Explanation:
A flying saucer from outer space crash-landed in the Utah desert
last week after being tracked by radar and chased by helicopters.
No space aliens were involved, however.
The saucer,
pictured above, was the Genesis sample return capsule,
part of a human-made robot
Genesis spaceship launched three years ago by NASA
itself to study the Sun.
The unexpectedly
hard landing at over 300 kilometers per hour occurred because the
parachutes did not open as planned.
The Genesis mission had been orbiting the
Sun collecting
solar wind particles that are
usually deflected away by
Earth's magnetic field.
A big question remains -- are the returned samples in
good enough condition to recover information about the real
composition of the Sun?
Genesis team scientists and engineers are working hard to
find out.